Indianapolis must be happy that this event keeps growing and growing. For folks like me who believe every sport is second to football, the scouting combine is first big event in a boring offseason when we study college players and pretend like we know what we’re talking about. Of course no one can predict who will do well in the NFL; that’s why there are so many first-round busts. But for every first-round bust there’s a Randy Moss and a Joe Thomas. An Adrian Peterson and a Torry Holt.

Not sure what the release of Muhsin Muhammed means to Chicago’s passing attack. It could mean that they’ve freed up money to re-sign Berrian before he hits the market on the 29th (Leap year!). Or it could mean they intend for both of their starting wideouts from last year to go elsewhere. That could portend good things for Devin Hester, who would slide into a starting role. It’s easy to discredit his skill as a receiver, but there’s no denying his playmaking ability. Also, the 3rd year is when the former kick return extraordinaire Steve Smith of the Panthers broke out. Then there’s Marty Booker who was cut by the Phins but has indicated interest in coming back to Chicago. That’s a statement not many want to make after 2007. Anyway, it will be interesting to see in the next few days what happens.

If you’re wondering why a site with an innocuous name like WalterFootball is one of the top mock draft sites on the net, look no further than their Mock Draft Database. I’m sure they missed a couple, but this thing has all the mock drafts you could ever need and want. And this is before the combine! There’s never any telling about the draft until draft day (unless if you talk to Arc), but why not get to know your prospects early? It beats watching the NBA.

If you haven’t seen this all over sports blogs, apparently there was a guy on Tuesday who snuck into the press box at the Superbowl celebration parade in New York and then traveled as either part of the owner’s family or part of the team through the whole parade and stadium rally/celebration. Inside the locker room, 6 inches from Coughlin and the Lombardi, his hat autographed by the whole team, and he has the pictures to prove it. It almost makes me want to be a Giants fan. Check out the full story over at Deadspin.

Over the course of the new few months during the long NFL offseason, and during the even longer fantasy football offseason, I am going to search for the best rookie WR to draft in fantasy leagues. But before anything, we have to judge whether or not it’s even worthwhile.

Thanks to an intrepid blogger at FootballDocs for the stats on players through 2004, my job has been easier. I have followed his patterns and listed rookie WR’s with over 700 yards receiving, starting from 1998. No rookie wide receiver went over 700 yards in 2005.

And I for one will be hoping Steve Spagnuolo gets hired by Dan Snyder to coach the Redskins. I don’t want to watch the Eagles play that defense twice next year. But wait… we play the Redskins twice. Fuck.

And by the way, not many people mentioned it, but that loss of Stephen Neal is one of the main reason the Giants got all that 2nd half pressure up the gut. Any other Patriots game you watch, Brady has time to step up into the pocket and avoid the outside rush. He didn’t have that pocket and I think that more than anything was the difference. It wasn’t the injury I had been hoping for, but one is better than none. (Yes, Eagles fans are terrible).

Let’s consider for a second the implications of a story that came out about the Patriots stealing the Rams offensive sets, formations, plays, etc. at the walkthrough practice before the Superbowl in ‘02. If the Rams win as most expected then Mike Martz’s career, Kurt Warner’s career, and many other Rams’ careers go quite differently. Kurt Warner had that and more to say. Meanwhile on the other side of that game, the Patriots don’t start a dynasty, Bill Belichick isn’t referred to as the smartest coach in the NFL, the Patriots aren’t the best run organization, etc, etc, etc. Extrapolate that some years and the Panthers don’t lose, the Eagles don’t lose, even Randy Moss doesn’t force his way to New England instead of Green Bay at the start of this year, and who knows if Green Bay doesn’t go to today’s game with Moss split out wide? The implications are enormous. Even Notre Dame fans upset with Charlie Weis can think about how he probably wouldn’t have gotten the job if he hadn’t been an offensive coordinator for a team winning by cheating. What’s the matter Mr. Weis, the Fighting Irish don’t have the same equipment as the Pats?

Roger Goodell has already come out on this issue however. He shares the denial that any of this affected the outcome of any games. Of course, the Pats deny it too. In fact, Goodell destroyed all the evidence, purportedly to prevent leaks. Forgive me for being skeptical though. Leaks? This is the NFL, a multibillion dollar operation. You can’t buy security for this evidence?

So if the commissioner and the Patriots deny it, at least the organization that had a trophy robbed would want to press it, right? But the Rams have no comment. I said this in IRC yesterday and here’s my guess for the future: they won’t push it. Recently their owner of 19 years, Georgia Frontiere, passed away. She had a 60% stake in the Rams, while Stan Kroenke owns 40%. Her two children Dale Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez will split her 60%, but for convenience sake and so that there is a majority owner, Dale Rosenbloom will hold the full 60%. But there is doubt about his plans with that share. Kroenke can veto sales of that share, so the major likelihood is that Kroenke tries to swing a deal where he buys the other 60%. The major problem to that? Kroenke already owns the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche. The NFL has a cross-ownership rule which prevents an owner from having controlling stakes in professional sports franchises in more than one city. But Kroenke has pull. Walmart pull. In the coming months he will likely use that force and try to convince the ownership committee to bend the rules for him to own the Rams. So why would he want to get on Goodell’s bad side by raising a stink?

Additionally, the NFL is almost unique in its revenue-sharing program. (Irony in that article; Bob Kraft saying, “The main issue is allowing everybody to compete.”) So any issue that gets big enough to make the average Sunday fan tune off the NFL affects a TV deal. A future TV deal affects the profit of all 32 owners. Any issue large enough to make the team’s fan not want to shell out $100 bucks for a ticket affects the profit of all 32 owners. There’s just too much money to lose.

In short, with destroyed evidence, the stance of the commissioner, billions of dollars to lose, and the future ownership of the Rams in jeopardy, there’s just no way I can see Kroenke or the Rams as an organization pushing an investigation.

So maybe Congress finally will have something to do besides pick which side of the aisle is going to applaud.